Judge says Farrakhan ban 'unjustified'

Monday 1 October 2001 12.01 EDT
First published on Monday 1 October 2001 12.01 EDT

The High Court today ordered the home secretary, David Blunkett, to reconsider the long-running ban that prohibits the Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, from visiting the UK.

Mr Justice Turner said last November's decision by the then home secretary, Jack Straw, to maintain Mr Farrakhan's exclusion must be quashed because there had been a failure to establish "objective justification" for the ban.

The judge was giving his reasons for a decision he reached in July. He said: "It was not my decision that the claimant now be admitted to the UK - merely that the decision taken on November 20 be quashed."

The judge said a "stay" on his ruling should remain in place until the government has indicated, probably by the end of the week, whether it intends to appeal against his ruling.

Mr Farrakhan, now aged 67 and battling against cancer was first banned in 1986 by the government of Margaret Thatcher. Successive administrations have argued that they were was entitled to continue the ban because of fears that Mr Farrakhan's presence could lead to public disorder, based on his past negative statements about Jews.

Mr Straw first indicated that he would continue Farrakhan's exclusion in July 1998 - just after Nation of Islam members were involved in an incident at the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. He later personally confirmed that decision and then maintained it in November, saying that Farrakhan had expressed "anti-Semitic and racially divisive views".

But Mr Justice Turner ruled today that maintaining the ban could not be justified, saying: "There is a complete absence of evidence before the court of racial, religious or ethnic tension between the black Muslim and Jewish communities in the United Kingdom existing at the date of the decision letter."

Mr Blunkett responded: "I continue to think that Mr Farrakhan, were he to come here, would be a threat to public order. I'm frankly astonished at the judge's decision. We intend to seek leave to appeal."

Outside the court Sadiq Khan, Mr Farrakhan's solicitor, said: "The followers of the Nation of Islam and ordinary people in London and the UK want to hear what Mr Farrakhan has to say, whether they accept or reject his teachings. Enough is enough - he should be allowed in."

He added: "There is no evidence that there have been any problems of this kind in the 47 years of his ministry either in the USA or anywhere else he has been."